


Side Effects May Include

by CSIGurlie07



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Guardiancorp, Poisoning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSIGurlie07/pseuds/CSIGurlie07
Summary: Following Lena's cyanide poisoning, things aren't as fine as they seem. In the wake of a crisis, Lena discovers she has a family, and James starts to realize just how much he cares for Lena. [An episode follow up to 3x12 "For Good"]





	Side Effects May Include

**Author's Note:**

> Written on my phone, edited on my pc, enjoy this quick and dirty follow up to Supergirl 3x12 “For Good”. This is one of two unrelated follow ups I have planned for this episode.

“James!”

Kara’s voice rang out across the bullpen, and he turned to find her already on his heels, eyes glinting with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got a weird text from Lena,” she explained. “It didn’t make much sense, and she didn’t answer when I tried to call her back. I think something’s wrong, but there’s a three-alarm on 5th–”

“Go,” James told her, understanding in an instant. “I’ll check on Lena. Can I borrow your key?”

Kara handed it over, already off its ring. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Call Alex as soon as you get there, okay?”

The tension in her voice was palpable, and James felt it too, coiling tightly in his gut and climbing up his throat as he grabbed his own keys and told Eve to clear his schedule. The DEO save yesterday had felt too easy, and even with Edge and Lillian both locked up, the other shoe had yet to drop. Ominous dread curled in his stomach, speeding his trip across town to Lena’s building.

He’d only been there once, and yet the doorman waved him through without a fuss. James didn’t waste the time to wonder what that meant. In seconds he was pounding on Lena’s door, concern clenching every muscle in his body.

“Lena!” he called through the door. “It’s me! Kara said you texted her. Are you home?” No answer came. “Lena, I’m coming in!”

He slid the key into the lock and opened the door. He spied nothing out of place as he closed the door behind him, but he didn’t see Lena either.

“Lena! You here?”

_“James…”_

Lena’s voice drifted from the bedroom, strained and thin. He closed the distance in a matter of strides, and paused in the doorway of her empty bedroom until he spotted the door to the bathroom ajar and spilling a thin strip of light across the carpet.

“Lena?” He knocked softly on the door, pushing it open as it did. Inside he found Lena, curled against the side of her porcelain bathtub in wrinkled pajamas, arms wrapped tight around her middle and hair glued to her neck with sweat.

In a flash he was on his knees next to her, taking in the sight of her flushed skin, and the sound of her breath scraping from her throat. He pulled her hair from her face with one hand as he settled his other on her knee.

“Talk to me…”

“Hurts…” she gasped, voice tight with pain. “God, it hurts.” She squeezed her eyes shut, dislodging thick tears to trail down her cheeks. “It won’t stop…”

James’ fingers were already on his phone, pulling up Alex’s number. “Okay, it’s okay. I’ve got you…”

“James? What’s happening,” Alex prompted, her voice cool and calm.

“Lena’s in pain, serious pain,” he told her, flinching when Lena’s body contracted against a new wave of pain.

“Please,” she begged, “please just make it stop…”

“I’m taking her to the hospital,” James told Alex, tightening his hand on Lena’s shoulder.

“Do it. Explain about the poisoning, tell them she was treated with sodium thiosulfate. I’m calling Sam now. Text me the details of wherever you end up. Sam will meet you there, okay?”

James nodded, giving Lena’s shoulder a rub. “Okay, I will.”

“We’ll be there too,” Alex promised. “As soon as we can.”

James ended the call and tucked his phone away. With gentle hands he cupped Lena’s cheek. Her eyes opened, bright with tears and fear. “James…”

“I know,” he promised. “We’re going to get you to the hospital, and you’re going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

She didn’t protest when James scooped her up in his arms, pajamas and all. The only sound she made was a tortured groan when he set her in the front seat of his car and strapped the seatbelt across her chest.

“I’m sorry– we’ll be there soon, I promise.” As he drew back, Lena’s breath sharpened abruptly. Grabbing her hand, he found her fingers curled oddly, locked in a painful rictus as she sucked short, panicked breaths through her teeth.

He must have broken a dozen traffic laws, but he barely remembered any of it. All he knew was the sharp, pained breaths that seemed to crack Lena’s breath with every inhalation. Her head leaned heavily on his shoulder when he lifted her out of the seat to carry her inside.

“You’re gonna be fine, Lena. I promise. Just hang in there.”

_Please, please, please…_

With an extra burst of speed James burst through the emergency room doors. The nurse at the desk barely took one look at him and the woman in his arms before paging a stretcher. Keeping his voice low, James explained the cyanide, and the treatment she’d already received.

“Not at this hospital,” the nurse snapped, swiftly wrapping a pressure cuff around Lena’s upper arm. “They didn’t keep her for observation– are they out of their minds? That’s immediate grounds for a malpractice suit.”

They let him stay with Lena until they wheeled her into the trauma ward. By then they’d given her something for the pain, and she didn’t even notice when his hand slipped out of hers, which was still twisted and gnarled as her system hovered on the edge of a seizure.

The doors slid shut, and James stared at the wooden obstruction with his heart thundering in his ears He didn’t hear Sam’s voice calling until she gently touched his shoulder, breaking through the fog of helplessness.

“James?” Her hand firmed, promptiong him to turn, and he did, tearing his gaze from the doors separating him from Lena. “What happened?”

“They just took her back… I don’t know what–” He cut himself off, rubbing a hand across his mouth and jaw. “She was in a lot of pain.”

Sam looked at him with wide eyes, sympathetic but utterly unaware of what it felt like to see a woman like Lena Luthor curled on floor of her bathroom. “They think it’s related to the poison?”

James shrugged, utterly without answers. “The nurse seemed to think so. I mean, it has to be, right? There’s been nothing else…”

Sam nodded, letting her hand trail down to his wrist. She tugged him towards the waiting room. “Let’s sit, while we wait.”

James let her pull him along behind her, but his thoughts remained locked on the woman suffering alone on the other side of the doors.

* * *

When Lena opened her eyes, her body felt heavy. It ached, like every muscle had been wound tight as a rubber band and then snapped one by one. It took long moments for her eyes to focus, revealing that part of the heaviness on her right side was Kara, who had fallen asleep with her palm in Lena’s and her cheek resting on the back of Lena’s hand.

Some of Lena’s acuity returned at the sight of her best friend, and banished some of the confusion clouding her thoughts. Inhaling deeply, she forced her lungs to expand in the first full breath in what felt like ages. In an instant, she registered movement on her left side.

“Lena?”

James’ voice pulled her head to the side, where she found him shifting forward in his seat, features creased with worry. Behind him the window revealed a night sky, thick and full.

“Hey,” he said, taking her free hand in both of his. “How are you feeling?”

Motion at the foot of the bed caught her eye, and shapes resolved into Alex, Sam, and Ruby, playing cards in hand as they crowded the end of the gurney. Kara roused as well, blinking blearily before beaking into a blinding smile. Lena returned it with a thin one of her own before sliding her gaze back to James, whose fingers rubbed the back of her hand in comfort.

“I’m okay,” she said, voice croaking. It wasn’t that much of a fib, all things considered. Yes, she ached, and yes, she felt like a human-sized lead weight, but the danger was gone. She could sense it, in her own body and in the relief etched into the faces lining her bed.

“You gave us quite a scare,” Sam joked. She reached out to playfully wiggle Lena’s foot through the blankets.

Lena took a breath to brush it off, but instead her laugh emerged as a sigh. “Me too,” she confessed.

She remembered being curled on the floor of her bathroom, barely able to move for the pain and the way her muscles had locked tight. Even after she’d managed to text Kara, she’d been afraid her friend would come too late. She remembered the relief of seeing James appear in the doorway, his gentle suredness a balm even after she heard the wobble of fear in his voice.

“I’m okay,” she repeated, this time meeting James’ gaze.

He nodded. “Yeah, you are.”

“It was the poison.” It wasn’t much of a question. She couldn’t imagine what else could have done it. But she needed to know for sure. “Wasn’t it?”

“Not all of it left your system after the antidote was administered,” Kara said, leaning forward witha grim expression. “I’m just not sure why you didn’t have symptoms sooner.”

“ _Did_  you have any symptoms?” Alex asked, canny enough to ask the truly pertinent questions. “Shortness of breath, headaches, cramps…?”

Lena bit her lip, unable to lie and reluctant to share the truth. Her friend read her expression easily, though, and a round of incredulous reactions answered her.

“Lena…”

“I thought it would pass,” she said in her own defense. “And we had bigger things to worry about.”

“Between the two of you, I swear–” Alex shot Sam a glare, who lifted her hands in immediate surrender. “Okay, new group rule: nothing is more important than your health.” Kara opened her mouth opened her mouth, expression promising to tease her sister with a myriad of instances demonstrating Alex’s own hypocrisy, but Alex pointed a preemptive warning at her. _“Don’t.”_

Kara slumped, a pout on her lips, and Lena laughed. It soon turned into a cough, and when she gasped to reclaim her breath, she realized for the first time that a canula sat under her nose, feeding her oxygen. She must look a sight, but Lena couldn’t bring herself to care.

James offered her a styrofoam cup with a narrow straw sticking out of it. Lena sipped carefully until cool water coated her dry mouth and soothed her aching throat. James took it back when she was done– their fingers brushed and lingered, his touch warm and gentle. Their eyes locked, and for a long moment Lena forgot the rest of their audience, until Sam cleared her throat.

“We’re going to go get something to eat, she said, nudging Ruby towards the door. Ruby’s features twisted in confusion.

“We are? We just ate–”

“We’ll be back soon,” Alex chimed in, squeezing Ruby’s shoulder until the girl fell quiet. “Kara, you’re coming.”

Karas eyebrows lifted, before sharing a soft smile with Lena. “Yes, I am.” She disentangled their fingers to reach in for an awkward hug. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks,” Lena whispered. Their eyes met when Kara drew back, and Lena wordlessly promised they would talk more upon her return. Kara departed with a nod, leaving Lena and James alone in the room.

His fingers had long since found hers again, and Lena rubbed her thumb up and down the length of his index finger, catching on calluses and a single, narrow scab along his first knuckle. She didn’t know what to say, and it seemed he didn’t either. They sat in a soft silence, until his breath caught as though to speak, and Lena cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said in a rush. James froze, then softened into an incredulous smile.

“Are you serious right now?” he asked, and Lena felt her own smile grow.

“I think carting me to the hospital is usually six-months-in material, at least.” James laughed, a real laugh that lifted more of the invisible weight pressing Lena into the thin hospital mattress. “I’m definitely grateful though.”

James lifted their linked fingers, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “So am I,” he agreed softly. “Turns out I’m not quite ready to let you go yet, Miss Luthor.”

“Must have come as quite the surprise,” she teased.

James held her gaze, his continued grip on her hand firm, and steady. “Not really.”

Lena felt her cheeks flush. After a moment, James straightened slightly, breaking the intensity of his gaze. “Alex has a point though,” he told her. “I don’t care what you tell everyone else, but you and I– we’ve gotten pretty good at being honest with each other, haven’t we?”

Lena nodded. 

“What do you say to adding our health to that honesty?” he asked.

Licking dry lips, Lena considered her words carefully. “I think that would depend…”

James’ brow furrowed. “On what?”

“Are we adding your hobby to our honesty?”

She watched his expression shift from confusion to realization to guarded neutrality. He didn’t say anything, and Lena realized that whatever she said next would determine whether or not she would be allowed into his secret– and whether their relationship could continue.

“If you come by L-Corp later this week, maybe I could see about designing you a helmet that hides your eyes better.”

Silently, she willed him to hear what she promised. Her silence, to keep his secret safe. To help, if he wanted it. Her understanding, as to why he hadn’t seen fit to tell her himself. Her apology, for forcing the issue. Her continued interest, if he chose to remain honest with her.

James didn’t respond for a long, long moment. Long enough that the first tendrils of disappointment crept into Lena’s mind before he finally lapsed into a small, sheepish grin. “Sure. That’d probably be a good idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He squeezed her hand. Lena released the breath she’d been holding, more relieved than she thought.

After a moment of quiet, James’ expression turned thoughtful. “You know, you should probably have someone stay with you for a few days when they let you out of here.”

Lena lifted an eyebrow, gratefully catching his mischeivous tone and making it her own. “Oh, and you’re volunteering, are you?”

James nodded. “Uh huh.”

“Ooh, sorry,” she said, affecting a playful grimace as she prepared to let him down easy. “I already have a boyfriend…”

James grinned. “You do?”

“Uh huh,” she laughed as he leaned towards her, his grin suddenly devilish. “He has a shield and everyth–”

Her giggle ceased in a kiss, and the warmth of his palm on her cheek. He really was a phenomenal kisser.


End file.
